Machine and method of making brushes



June 11, 1963 H. SCHMIDT MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING BRUSHES 4 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Nov. 28, 1958 in van for:

June 11, 1963 H. SCHMIDT MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING BRUSHES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 28, 1958 June 11, 1963 Filed Nov. 28, 1958 H. SCHMIDT MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING BRUSHES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 11, 1963 Filed NOV. 28, 1958 H. SCHMIDT MACHINE AND METHOD OF MAKING BRUSHES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Unite The present invention relates to a machine for making brushes and similar bodies provided with bristles, hair or fiber tufts.

In connection with the making of brush bodies or the like which may be of wood, synthetic material or other suitable substances, the work piece has to be provided with bores for receiving the tufts, whereupon the tufts are inserted into each of said bores. The insertion and anchoring of said tufts is usually termed applying of the tufts. The individual tufts are usually fastened or anchored in the respective bores by a bent wire piece, which operation is eifected by an automatic mechanically actuated tuft-applying tool. The manner of making the bores in the brush body usually depends on the type of the material of the work piece and the preparation of the work piece. Thus, generally, when employing deformable material such as synthetic material, the holes for receiving the tufts may be formed during the molding of the brush body, for instance, by pressing the holes into the work piece. In this instance, the manufacture of the brush proper may be limited to the insertion and anchoring of the tufts. If, however, wood is selected as material for the brush body, the tuft-receiving bores will have to be made by drilling and this step will have to be calculated into the manufacturing process.

Heretofore, the drilling of the tuft-receiving bores, as well as the insertion of the tufts, was carried out by a minimum of tools by means of which all bores in the brush body were drilled and equipped with the tufts while either the tools or the respective brush body being worked on had to be displaced by one bore spacing after each individual working step. Such an arrangement, however, allowed a higher output only by increasing the working speed of the tools to a maximum. This, in turn, required costly complicated tuft-applying tools which were expensive and which got out of adjustment relatively easily. Furthermore, all the bores had to have the same direction which meant that an inclination of a portion of the tufts, for instance, at the marginal portion of the brush, was impossible.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a machine for mass-producing brushes and the like.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method of and machine for mass-producing brushes, which will have a considerably higher output than heretofore known machines of the type involved, while, on the other hand, the working speed of the individual tools may be considerably reduced thereby cutting down the wear of the tools and increasing the life thereof.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a machine for making brushes or the like, which will make it possible to apply the tufts simultaneously to all or a portion of the bores in the work piece.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates the principle of the present invention.

FIGS. 2 to 6 illustrate by way of example an embodiment of a machine according to the invention for the mass production of brushes and the like, from which FIG. 2 is a side View,

, 3,093,416 Patented June 11, 1963 9 pd FIG. 3 is an end view of FIG. 2 seen in the direction of the arrow III of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a top view of a brush body showing the arrangement of the tuft bores, and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic top view of the machine according to FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 shows a diagrammatic addition to FIG. 2. FIG. 7 illustrates on a somewhat larger scale than FIGS. 2 and 3 the side view of another embodiment of a machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows the general tool arrangement in the machine according to FIG. 7 in a diagrammatic manner.

General Arrangement The brush-making machine according to the present invention is characterized primarily in that each tuftreceiving bore of the brush body has assigned thereto an automatically operating tuft-applying tool and, if desired, an automatic drilling tool, said tools being arranged individually or in groups one behind each other on a stepwise advancing holding device for a plurality of brush bodies. The machine according to the invention is in all instances equipped with the described ar rangement of the tuft-inserting tools. The drilling tools precede said tuft-applying tools, so the brush bodies are fed into the machine without bores for the tufts.

f he invention is not limited to maintaining that minimum spacing between two adjacent tuft-receiving bores, which results from the spacing of two adjacent tools. It is also possible to place the tufts as close to each other as will be permissible in view of the strength of the brush body.

In addition to the above, two further aspects for determining the number of tools and especially of tuftinserting tools per group or station are of importance. These two aspects are, on one hand, the length of the machine, which increases with the number of the stations, and which length will be the greater the fewer the tools that are provided in each station; and, on the other hand, the strength of the material of the brush body with regard to the magnitude of the stress to which the said material is subjected in view of the simultaneously effected connection of a large number or all of the tufts in the bores of the brush body, said connections frequently being effected by impact or shock. The stress to which the material of the brush body is subjected depends on the spacing of the bores and the properties of the material of the brush body. These properties can vary widely for wood, synthetic material or steel with special inserts for anchoring the tufts.

Generally, it will be the tendency to mount a great number of tools in each group or station. Important for the required spacing and the number of the tools will be the fact whether all of the bores are perpendicular, or part thereof are inclined, to the surface through which the tufts are inserted into the brush body.

The magnitude of the feeding step of the work piece conveyor will depend on the distance which the brush bodies on the conveyor are spaced from each other and,

also on the distance by which the machining stations are Structural Arrangement The fundamental principle of an arrangement accord ing to the present invention will best be understood from a reference to FIG. 1 which diagrammatically illustrates the principle of the present invention. The problem to be solved consists in preparing a brush, the brush body k of which is to be provided with eight tufts perpendicular to the surface to which the tufts have to be applied and, arranged in two rows at such a small distance 1 between the tufts and the two rows that it will just be possible to arrange two adjacent tools at a distance 2 t. Thus, only two tools will be combined to a group and are distributed over the thus resulting four groups I to IV along and transverse to the feeding direction 7 of a step by step feeding member serving as the workpiece carrier. This distribution and arrangement of the tools is diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. '1 by the small circles, each of which indicates the position of a tool in the axis of a bore for a tuft. It will thus be evident that the two tools of each group always have the same two bores of each work piece assigned for machining, and each machining operation will be repeated with each newly advanced work piece in the same rhythm as the advance or feed of the step by step feeding member 0 by the step s between each two adjacent tool groups I to IV. The working speed of the tools does not have to exceed the feeding speed of the feeding member c. The upper limit of the feeding speed will, of course, depend on the masses of the workpieces to be moved.

The arrangement diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1 represents a tool station St and is alternatively applicable to a drilling station as well as a tuft-applying station.

If the brush bodies k are first to be drilled and then are to be provided with the tufts, there will always be arranged one drilling station composed of four tool groups I to IV and a similar tuft-applying station, said drilling station and tuft-applying station being arranged in series in the feeding direction 1 above the step by step feeding member 0. After each eight steps, a cycle, i.e. the drilling and tuft-inserting of a brush body k, will be completed, and after each cycle a fully completed brush body will be obtained. If the brush bodies k have already been manufactured with the bores (e.g. by molding or pressing) there will be needed but one tool station St which is equipped with tuft-applying tools only. In this case, a cycle comprises four steps only after which a fully completed brush-body is obtained. However, it is also possible to sub-divide the two stations so that each drilling group is followed by the tuft-applying group for the same tuft holes.

The machine according to the invention may not only be designed for making brushes with parallel tufts, primarily rectangularly arranged with regard to the brush body, but also for making brushes in which the tufts extend in different directions, for instance, in slanted rows or radially.

The details of a machine according to the invention will be apparent from FIGS. 2 to 6.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show one embodiment of the machine according to the invention for the mass manufacture of a brush with a rectangular brush body and tufts inserted thereinto perpendicular to the bottom surface of said brush, as shown in FIG. 4, said bottom surface facing upwardly in FIGS. 2 and 3. An endless belt or chain conveyor 1 serves as the work piece carrier, said conveyor passing within the range of the working operations over a stationary hearing or support 2. Each work piece, namely, each brush body 3, is clamped between two blocks 4 and 5. The clamping operation may be effected in any desired manner either manually or mechanically, and the same applies for the removal of the completed brushes from the conveyor 1. Conveyor 1 is driven in such a way that it moves in steps of a certain magnitude in the direction of the arrow x with periods of rest between said steps.

Tools are arranged above the conveyor 1 and the stationary support 2. The arrangement is such that a common support 6 carries automatic drilling machines 7 and tuft-inserting machines 8 which may be of any standard design. The drilling machines 7 form the drilling station and, in the specific example shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, are sub-divided into two groups B01 and B02. The same systern applies to the tuft-inserting station the machines 8 of which are sub-divided into two groups Bel and B22. The brush bodies 3 are arranged on the conveyor 1 and spaced from each other by a substantially uniform dis tance a. The distance a represents the length of the step made by the conveyor 1 in the direction x at each stroke of the machine and equals the length 2 of the brush body 3 in the feeding direction x plus the spacing a between each two successive brush bodies in the direction x. The distance a also applies to the arrangement of the machine groups. The spindles of the drills of group B02 are, however, with regard to the drill spindles of group B01 offset by the bore spacing b relative to the work piece therebelow. In other words, while the spacing of the drills from each other in the direction x for group B01 is the same as that of group B02, the position of the drills of group B02 relative to the work piece is changed by the bore spacing b in the feeding direction x. A corresponding situation applies to the groups Bel and Be2, i.e. the position of the tuft-inserting members 8 of B22 relative to the work piece therebelow has changed over the corresponding position in group Bel by the distance 11 in the direction In this way, the embodiment according to FIGS. 2, 3 and 5 takes into consideration that the spacing b will be less than the minimum distance at which two adjacent tuft-inserting machines 8 can be arranged due to their width. This fact is furthermore taken into consideration by the sub-division of the tuft-applying station into two machine groups Bel and Be2 and the offsetting thereof by the spacing b. Group Bel inserts the tufts into the uneven numbered bores in the brush body, Whereas group Be2 inserts the tufts into the even numbered bores of the brush body. Accordingly, the machines, i.e. drills and tuft-inserting members respectively of one and the same group, are spaced from each other by the distance 2b.- In FIG. 5, the arrangement of the tools 7 and 8 of each group or station in relation to the brush bodies 3 is indicated by small circles in a similar manner to FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 and 5 clearly show that the drilling machines 7 of each group are arranged in two parallel rows offset with regard to each other in the transverse direction. A similar arrangement applies to the tuft-inserting machines 8.

It will be evident, especially from FIG. 5, that the machine according to the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3 is adapted to produce brushes with the arragement of the tuft bores 9 in the manner shown in FIG. 4.

For combining the drives of the drilling machines 7 into groups, electric motors 11 and gear transmissions 10 are provided which are mounted on the support 6. Each group of the tuft-inserting machines 8 is equipped with an electric motor 12 for purposes of vertically feeding or advancing the needle-like tuft-inserting tools, said motors 12 likewise being mounted on support or beam 6. However, if desired, said group drive may, in this instance as well as with the drilling machines, be replaced by individual drives.

Beam or support 6 is movable in the vertical direction, and is suspended on two rods 14 while springs 6a take up the major portion of the weight of beam 6. The rods or bars 14 rest, in conformity with FIGS. 2 and 3, by means of rollers 15 on cams 16 respectively. The said cams 16 are respectively fixedly mounted on shafts 17, said shafts 17 being driven by an electric motor 18 common thereto. This control brings about a timed lifting and lowering of the beam 6 with the drilling and tuft-inserting stations with regard to the brush bodies 3 on conveyor 1.

Operation The machine operates in the following manner. The conveyor 1 will be continuously loaded with brush bodies 3 and will advance by steps of the length a with uniform rest periods therebetween. The movements of the support or beam 6 are timed in conformity with said advance or feeding movement so that all drilling spindles and tuftinserting heads will rest against each of the brush bodies 3 as soon as a feeding step has been completed and each of the brush bodies has thus been brought into the precisely predetermined working position below the respective drilling and tuft-inserting group. The now following drilling and tuft-inserting feed strokes are controlled by the tools 7 and 8 themselves in synchronism of its drive with the movement of beam 6 and conveyor 1.

The spindles of the drilling tools 7 are driven by the electrical motors 11, the tools being equipped in a manner known per se with means for the automatic advance of the spindle. Thus those tools 7 need no control except the downward and upward movements of beam 6.

The working movements of the tuft-inserting tools 8, however, are controlled in accordance with the rotation of the shaft 17 in the following manner as may be seen from FIG. 6:

A contact arm 61, mounted on rod 14, closes an electric circuit 62 as soon as the earns 16 lift the rods 14 and the beam 6 to their upper position. A magnetic switch 63 arranged in said circuit 62, closes a contact 64 so that a motor 65 is energized from a circuit 66 and imparts, via a worm gear 67, rotation to a wheel 68 driving the conveyor 1 in the direction of arrow x. After a revolution of 180, which correspond to the extent of one step a of the conveyor 1, a cam 69 mounted on wheel 68 actuates a control member 70 to close an electric circuit 7 1 branched from the circuit 62. By way of a retarding condenser 72, a magnetic switch 73 is actuated against the tension of a closing spring 74 whereby contact 64 is opened so that the motor 65 is deenergized and the rotation of wheel 68 is interupted. The capacity of the condenser 72 is selected to bring this about as soon as the cam 69 has passed the roller 75 of the switch 70 whereby circuit 71 is opened again. On account of the relative speeds of motors 18 and 65, the cam 16 has, in the meantime, passed roller 15, and rods 14 with beam 6 have been moved downwardly whereby arm 61 opens circuit 62 and closes a circuit 7 6 to the effect that, by means of a spring-actuated switch 77, a circuit 78 is closed which energizes the motors 12 imparting to all of the tools 8 which have been lowered on the surface of the bodies 3 the tuft-inserting stroke by means of two crankshafts 79. By the above-mentioned opening of circuit 62 switch 63 opens contact 64 whereby motor 65 is finally deenergized. (For better clearness, FIG. 6 represents the tuft-inserting tools 8 by dot-dash axis lines only.) In the described manner, a precisely timed working operation will be obtained which, for purposes of completing each brush, will require 2x2, i.e. four strokes,

while, following each stroke, a completed brush will be obtained which will then be moved past station Be2 by the conveyor 1 in a manner known per se. The speed of the conveyor may be selected in conformity with the masses of the workpieces to be moved.

If, when selecting a sufiiciently great distance between the holes for the tufts, it is not necessary to subdivide the drilling and tuft-inserting stations into a plurality of groups, the design of the machine may be simplified by drilling all of the holes during the first stroke and insert ing the tufts into said holes during the second stroke so that a two-stroke cycle will be obtained.

On the other hand, in conformity with the requirements of the arrangement of the tufts in the brush body, the machine may have its tool stations and groups so arranged and distributed that a six, or eight or more, stroke cycle operation will be obtained while with each stroke a brush will be obtained fully equipped with its tufts.

Referring now to FIG. 7, this figure illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention, for providing the spherical surface 22 of a brush body 21 with bores 23 and tufts extending radially in all directions. In this instance, all drilling tools 24 are combined in a single drilling station, and all tools 25 for inserting the tufts are combined in a single tuft-inserting station. Such an arrangement furnishes a two-stroke cycle operation. FIG. 7 shows only those tools 24 and 25 which are located in the drawing plane. The actual arrangement-which FIG. 8 illustrates diagrammatically showing only the central axis of each tool-in dot-dash lines is three-dimensional and such that one complete ring of individual tools is located on a coneshaped path and that three of such cone-shaped paths are concentrically arranged inside each other at each station, while a central tool is arranged in the common vertical axis of said cone-shaped paths. All of the drilling tools 24, each of which is equipped with a drive motor 26 for the rotation and the feeding of the spindles, are longitudinally displaceably mounted in a stationary tool holder 27 of spherical shape. The downward movement of said spindles is effected in guiding means of the holder 27 due to their own weight or by means of springs 40, whereas the return movement of the spindles and tools is effected by means of cable lines 28 con-trolled by a plurality of excentric arrangements 29 driven, for example, by an electric motor. However, the axial spindle movements may also be effected by a drive in the machine and may be controlled by the drive motor.

The tuft-inserting tools 25 are similarly mounted, but stationarily since only the tuft-inserting needles or the needle guiding means are moved. The feeding of the brush bodies 21 to each of the two stations will be in conformity with the different operation of the two tool types 24 and 25. More specifically, an endless link chain 30 serves as the work piece conveyor. The said chain 30 moves within guiding means 31 which extends over the working range of the machine and is moved therealong step by step, with the length a of each step substantially equaling the distance from center to center of the two adjacent tool stations. Each brush body 21 has provided therefor a holder 32 which is-carried along by chain 30 and is held by means of a fork 33 which from above grasps or engages a link of chain 30. While chain 30, during its first stroke, guides holder 32 with its brush body or work piece 21 into position below the drilling station, the eccentric arrangements 29 occupy their upper position in which they have pulled up all of the drilling tools 24 in holder 27 upwardly to such an extent as is required in conformity with the various surface points of the spherical surface of said holder 27. During the now following dwell or rest period of chain 30, all drilling tools 24, due to further rotation of eccentric arrangements 29 move downwardly to the work piece 21 and drill all of the tuft holes 23. Subsequently, the drilling tools 24 are again lifted into their upper positions so that chain 30 will be able, during its second stroke, to move the drilled brush body 21 away from the drilling station and into a position below the tuft-inserting station. Inasmuch as the tuft-inserting tools 25 are stationarily arranged, the brush body 21 will at the end of step a from guiding means 31 be movedtoward the tools 25 by a vertical lifting movement of its holder 32. This is made possible by means of a lifting device 34 which is adapted to extend through chain 30 and can be controlled in any desired manner. During this lifting movement, fork 33 disengages its respective chain link bolt. When the brush body 21 is in its working position, it will be held at opposite sides by means of a fixed guiding means 35.

FIG. 7 further illustrates diagrammatically a device tocontrol the stepwise-movements of the drilling tools 24, the tuft-inserting tools 25 and the conveyor 30 as well as the lifting device 34. Mounted on a shaft 42 are eccentric arrangements 29 in such a number as corresponds to the number of rows formed by the tools 24 in planes parallel to the direction x, each eccentric member 29 being connected to the tools of the corresponding row by the cable lines 28, see also FIG. 8. A contact switch 43, the movable part of which is actuated by a cam 44 mounted on the shaft 42, is closed at each rota tion of the shaft 42 and by way of a circuit 45 controls a spring-actuated double-pole switch 46. When switch 46 is energized, it energizes the upper winding of a hoisting magnet 47 which causes the lifting of the device 34. A switch 48 controlled by a cam 49 of the device 34 closes when device 34 is lifted and closes its blade 50 whereby a solenoid operator is energized and moves the piston 52 of a valve 53 which controls the admission of compressed air from a container 54 through a plurality of pipe conduits to the needle-propulsing means of the tuft-inserting tools 25 in a manner known per se. As soon as the cam 44, during its rota-tion, opens the contact member 43 circuit 45 is interrupted, whereby the switch 46 is deenergized and deenergizes the upper winding of magnet 47 and energizes the lower winding thereof causing downward movement of the device 34 and the recoupling of the holder 32 to chain 30. The switch 46, biased by a spring 55, further closes a contact member 56 arranged in a circuit 57 thus energizing an electric motor 58 adapted to impart, via a worm-gear 59, rotation to the driving wheel 60 of the chain conveyor 30 to such an extent as necessary to move chain 30 the distance of a step a. A finished brush is thus produced on each stroke.

FIG. 8 shows in perspective a three-dimensional diagram of the arrangement of the tools 24 (FIG. 7) which are, however, represented for sake of clearness by the dot-dash axis lines p only. The above-mentioned concentrical cone-shaped paths in which the axes p are arranged are indicated by three circles q q and q respectively. The work piece to be drilled is the same brush body 23 as in FIG. 7. The above-mentioned rows of tools lying in planes parallel to direction .1: (FIG. 7) are indicated by lines it. For better clearness the lines 28, their guide pulleys 81, 82, and the eccentric arrangement 29 mounted on shaft 42 are represented in FIG. 8 for those tools only which are situated in the verticfl plane indicated by line u After passing the pulleys 82, all of the lines 28 are united and attached to a fork 83 linked on the inner sheave 84 of the eccentric member 29.

It will be understood that the lifting of the Work piece would not be necessary if the tuft-inserting machines 25 will be axially displaceably mounted in a manner similar to that described in connection with the drilling machines. When the bores 23 for receiving the tufts are spaced from each other by a small distance, also the machine according to FIG. 7 may have each station sub-divided into two or more tool groups in the manner described above in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2.

As will be evident from the preceding description, the present invention brings about the advantage that the output of the machine can be increased to a maximum which is limited merely by the feeding speed of the work piece conveyor, inasmuch as with each step a brush body is obtained which is completely equipped with tufts. In this connection, it is immaterial into how many groups or stations the tools have been divided because for the output it is immaterial how many brush bodies will at the same time be machined and also how many individual tools will be combined to a group or stations working at one and the same time.

A further considerable advantage of the machine according to the invention is seen in that, in spite of the increased output, the individual tools, especially the tuftinserting tools each of which represents a machine tool in itself, are not subjected to too high an output per minute and consequently are not subjected to a fast wear as is the case with heretofore known machines of the type involved in which the brush bodies following each insertion of the tufts are advanced by one bore spacing. According to the invention, the work tools have to work only once after each advance of the work piece from station to station which means that they work at less frequent intervals and at less output per minute thereby favorably affecting the work precision and the life of the tools.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular embodiments shown in the drawings but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, the machine according to the invention may be adapted with its arrangement to any form of brush body, and, for instance, the work piece carrier may be a conveyor of the rotating type or of a type moving in an upright or vertical plane.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with an intermittently operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest period-s therebetween, said conveyor being adapted for carrying a plurality of brush heads having bores therein to be provided with tufts: a plurality of tools each of which is adapted to insert a tuft in a tuft-receiving bore of a brush head, arranged in spaced relationship to said conveyor and distributed along the conveyor, said tuft-inserting tools being so positioned that each is aligned with a predetermined bore of a different brush head at each rest position of the conveyor, and means for moving said tools and the brush head aligned therewith relatively to cause said tools to inert tufts in their respective bores simultaneously.

2. In combination with an intermittently operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted for carrying a plurality of brush heads thereon having bores therein to be provided with tufts: a plurality of groups of tools arranged in spaced relationship to and above said conveyor and also spaced from each other in the direction of movement of said conveyor, the spacing from the center of one of said groups to the center of the next one of said groups in the direction of movement of said conveyor equaling the length of an advancing step of said conveyor, each of said groups comprising a plurality of individual tuft-applying means for respectively inserting tufts into the tuft-receiving bores of brush heads mounted on said conveyor and having their centers spaced from corresponding ones in an adjacent group by the same distance as said groups plus the distance between adjacent ones of said tuft-receiving bores, said conveyor being operable respectively at the end of each advancing step thereof to align the center lines of the tools of said groups of tools with the center lines of the bores in the brush heads to be provided with tufts, the arrangement being such that at the end of one advancing step of said conveyor certain bores of the bores of a brush head on said conveyor will be in alignment with tuft-applying tools of the respective group thereabove while other bores of the same brush head will be in alignment with other tuftapplying tools of another group at the end of another advancing step of said conveyor, and means for moving said tools and the brush bodies aligned therewith relatively during each rest position of the conveyor.

3. An arrangement according to claim 2, in which the groups are further sub-divided into smaller units, the tuftapplying means of each unit being adapted to be aligned with certain but different bores of one and the same brush head at the end of each advancing step of said conveyor.

4. An arrangement according to claim 3, in which all drilling and tuft-applying tools are arranged perpendicular to the surface of the brush head to be provided with tufts.

5. In combination with an intermittently operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted for carrying a plurality of brush heads: a plurality of tools each of which is adapted to drill into each brush head on the conveyor a single bore to receive a tuft, and a plurality of .tools each of which is adapted to insert a tuft in one only of said bores, of each brush body, said tools being arranged in spaced relationship to said conveyor, the two kinds of tools being so arranged that each drilling tool at each rest position of the conveyor is in a position to drill an individual predetermined bore into a different brush head, and each bore of the brush heads that have been drilled at each rest position of the conveyor is in 9 alignment with an individual tuft-inserting tool assigned to same bore of the brush head.

6. In combination with an intermittently operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted for supporting a plurality of brush heads thereon to be provided with bores for receiving tufts therein: a plurality of first tool groups arranged in spaced relationship to and above said conveyor and also spaced from each other in the direction of movement of said conveyor, the spacing from center to center of any two adjacent ones of said groups in the direction of movement of said conveyor equaling the length of an advanc ing step of said conveyor, each of said tool groups comprising a plurality of individual drilling machines for respective-1y drilling holes into brush heads arranged in alignment therewith on said conveyor, a plurality of second tool groups spaced from each other by the same distance as said first tool groups, said second tool groups comprising a plurality of individual tuft-applying means for respectively inserting tufts into the tuft-receiving bores of brush heads aligned therewith on said conveyor, the arrangement being such that at the end of a first advancing step of said conveyor the axes of the drilling machines of one of said first tool groups will be in alignment with the axes of the bores of the brush body to be drilled thereby while at the end of the second advancing step of said conveyor the axes of the drilling machines of another tool group will be in alignment with the axes of additional bores to be drilled into the same brush head, and that at the end of said first mentioned advancing step of said conveyor certain bores of the bores of a brush head on said conveyor previously drilled by the tools of said first tool groups will be in alignment with tuft-applying means of one of said second tool groups thereabove while other bores of the same brush head will be in alignment with tuftapplying means of another of said second tool groups at the end of said second advancing step of said conveyor.

7. An arrangement according to claim 6, in which the tool groups comprising the drilling machines are subdivided into smaller units each of which at the end of each advancing stroke of the conveyor has drilling machines thereof in alignment with the axes of certain but different bores to be drilled into the respective brush head therebe'low, and in which the second tool groups are sub-divided into a plurality of smaller units the tuft-applying means of which are adapted to be aligned with certain but different bores of one and the same brush head at the end of each advancing step of said conveyor, whereby each tool operates only one time on each brush body.

8. A method of providing a brush head with a line of bores and with tufts therein, which includes the steps of: creating a first group of holes by first simultaneously drilling bores into said brush head with a corresponding number of first drilling tools and with the axes of said bores spaced from each other a distance equal to twice the desired minimum distance of two adjacent holes in the finished brush head, subsequently creating a second group of holes by simultaneously drilling holes intermediate the first drilled holes and in alignment therewith and with a corresponding number or" second drilling tools, thereupon inserting tufts first simultaneously into one of said groups of holes with a first set of tuft setting tools and thereafter simultaneously inserting tufts into the other group of holes with a second set of tuft setting tools, and moving the brush bodies in succession and by steps into operative alignment consecutively first, with said first drilling tools, second, with said second drilling tools, third, with said first tuft setting tools, and fourth, with said second tuft setting tools.

9. In a brush making machine; a conveyor adapted for supporting brush bodies in fixed uniform spaced re lation, a plurality of groups of tools spaced along the path of the conveyor for work operations on the brush bodies, means for moving said conveyor stepwise to advance the brush bodies thereon successively into operative alignment with said groups of tools, and means for causing work operations to be carried out simultaneously by all of the tools of a group on a brush body aligned therewith, each movement of the conveyor moving a brush body to the first group of tools or from one group of tools to the next, or from the last group of tools whereby each step taken by the conveyor produces a completely operated brush body, said tools comprising drilling tools operable to drill bores in the brush bodies and tuft inserting tools operable to insert tufts into said bores, each drilling tool drilling only a single bore in each brush body and each tuft inserting tool inserting a tuf-t in a single bore only in each brush body.

10. In combination with an intermittently operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted to support a plurality of brush heads to be provided with bores and tufts: a plurality of drilling and tuft-applying stations arranged one behind the other in the direction of movement of said conveyor for respectively drilling holes in brush heads on said conveyor and inserting tufts into the thus drilled bores, each of said stations respectively comprising individual drilling and tuft-inserting tools, each drilling tool and each tuft inserting tool pertaining to one bore only in each brush body and each tool operating once only on each brush body.

11. In combination with an intermittently operable convey-or adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted to support a plurality of brush heads thereon to be provided with bores and tufts in said bores: a plurality of drilling and tuft-applying stations arranged one behind the other in the direction of movement of said conveyor for respectively drilling holes in brush heads on said conveyor and inserting tufts into the thus drilled bores, each of said stations being sub-divided into groups spaced from each other so that the distance from center to center of each two adjacent groups corresponds to an advancing step of said conveyor, the total number of drilling tools of the drilling stations, corresponding to the total desired number of tuft-receiving bores in the finished brush head, and the total number of tuft-inserting tools of the tuft-applying stations corresponding to the desired total number of the tufts in the finished brush head, each tool operating once only on each brush body.

12. An arrangement according to claim 11, in which each station is sub-divided into two groups, the tools of the two groups of each station being offset with regard to each other by the spacing between two adjacent bores in the finished brush head whereby one group of the drilling station will drill every other hole of the total holes in the finished brush head and the drilling tools of the second group of the drilling station will drill the remaining holes, and similarly the tools of the first group of the tuft-inserting station will insert tufts in every other hole while the second group of the tuft-inserting station will insert the remaining tufts.

13. 'In combination with an intermittent-1y operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted to support a plurality of brush heads thereon to be provided with bores and tufts in said bores: 21 plurality of drilling and tuft-applying stations arranged one behind the other in the direction of movement of said conveyor for respectively drilling holes in brush heads on said conveyor and inserting tufts into the thus drilled bores, each of said stations being sub-divided into groups spaced from each other so that the distance from center to center of each two adjacent groups corresponds to an advancing step of said conveyor, the total number of drilling tools of the drilling stations corresponding to the total desired number of tuft-receiving bores in the finished brush head, and the total number of tuft-inserting tools of the tuft-applying stations corresponding to the desired total number of the tufts in the finished brush head, the tools of each group in the drilling station being offset in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the conveyor with regard to the respective preceding group of drilling tools of the same drilling station, and the tuft-inserting tools of each group of the tuft-applying station being offset in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of said conveyor with regard to the respective preceding group of tuft-inserting tools of the same tuft-inserting station, each tool operating once only on each brush body.

14. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which the tuft-applying means are mounted in at least one coneshaped path.

15. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which the tuft-applying means are arranged in a plurality of coaxial cone-shaped paths.

16. An arrangement according to claim 6, in which the drilling machines of each group are arranged in at least one cone-shaped path.

17. An arrangement according to claim 6 in which the tuft-applying means of each group are arranged in at least one cone-shaped path.

18. An arrangement according to claim 6, in which the drilling machines and the tuft-applying means are displaceable in the axial direction thereof.

19. In combination with an intermittently operable conveyor adapted to advance in uniform steps with uniform rest periods therebetween, said conveyor being adapted for supporting a plurality of brush heads thereon to be provided with bores for receiving tufts therein: a plurality of first tool groups aranged in spaced relationship to and above said conveyor and also spaced from each other in the direction of movement of said conveyor, the spacing from center to center of any two adjacent ones of said groups in the direction of movement of said conveyor equaling the length of an advancing step of said conveyor, each of said tool groups comprising a plurality of individual drilling machines for respectively drilling holes into brush heads arranged on said conveyor, a plurality of second tool groups spaced from each other by the same distance as said first tool groups, said second tool groups comprising a plurality of individual tuft-applying means for respectively inserting tufts into the tuft-receiving bores of said brush heads on said conveyor, the arrangement being such that at the end of a first advancing step of said conveyor the axes of the drilling machines of one of said first tool groups will be in alignment with the axes of the bores to be drilled thereby while at the end of a second advancing step of the conveyor the axes of the drilling machines of another tool group will be in alignment with the axes of additional bores to be drilled into the same brush head, and that at the end of said first mentioned advancing step of said conveyor certain bores of a previously drilled brush head will be in alignment with the tuft-applying means of one of said second tool groups while other bores of the same brush head will be in alignment with tuft-applying means of another one of said second tool groups at the end of another advancing step of said conveyor, the said drilling machines of said first tool groups being movable in axial direction thereof to effect the drilling of said brush bodies while the said tuft-applying means of said second tool groups are arranged stationarily, and lifting means for lifting the respective brush heads below said tuft-applying means toward the latter in axial direction thereof to effect the setting of the tufts in said bores.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 423,507 Young Mar. 18, 1890 982,340 Young Jan. 24, 1911 1,125,187 Schwartz Jan. 19, 1915 2,392,169 Mansfield Jan. 1, 1946 2,435,924 Jobst Feb. 10, 1948 2,689,152 Carlson Sept. 14, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 586,877 Germany Oct. 27, 1933 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH AN INTERMITTENTLY OPERABLE CONVEYOR ADAPTED TO ADVANCE IN UNIFORM STEPS WITH UNIFORM REST PERIODS THEREBETWEEN, SAID CONVEYOR BEING ADAPTED FOR CARRYING A PLURALITY OF BRUSH HEADS HAVING BORES THEREIN TO BE PROVIDED WITH TUFTS: A PLURALITY OF TOOLS EACH OF WHICH IS ADAPTED TO INSERT A TUFT IN A TUFT-RECEIVING BORE OF A BRUSH HEAD, ARRANGED IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO SAID CONVEYOR AND DISTRIBUTED ALONG THE CONVEYOR, SAID TUFT-INSERTING TOOLS BEING SO POSITIONED THAT EACH IS ALIGNED WITH A PREDETERMINED BORE OF A DIFFERENT BRUSH HEAD AT EACH REST POSITION OF THE CONVEYOR, AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID TOOLS AND THE BRUSH HEAD ALIGNED THEREWITH RELATIVELY TO CAUSE SAID TOOLS TO INERT TUFTS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE BORES SIMULTANEOUSLY.
 8. A METHOD OF PROVIDING A BRUSH HEAD WITH A LINE OF BORES AND WITH TUFTS THEREIN, WHICH INCLUDES THE STEPS OF: CREATING A FIRST GROUP OF HOLES BY FIRST SIMULTANEOUSLY DRILLING BORES INTO SAID BRUSH HEAD WITH A CORRESPONDING NUMBER OF FIRST DRILLING TOOLS AND WITH THE AXES OF SAID BORES SPACED FROM EACH OTHER A DISTANCE EQUAL TO TWICE THE DESIRED MINIMUM DISTANCE OF TWO ADJACENT HOLES IN THE FINISHED BRUSH HEAD, SUBSEQUENTLY CREATING A SECOND GROUP OF HOLES BY SIMULTANEOUSLY DRILLING HOLES INTERMEDIATE THE FIRST DRILLED HOLES AND IN ALIGNMENT THEREWITH AND WITH A CORRESPONDING NUMBER OF SECOND DRILLING TOOLS, THEREUPON INSERTING TUFTS FIRST SIMULTANEOUSLY INTO ONE OF SAID GROUPS OF HOLES WITH A FIRST SET OF TUFT SETTING TOOLS AND THEREAFTER SIMULTANEOUSLY INSERTING TUFTS INTO THE OTHER GROUP OF HOLES WITH A SECOND SET OF TUFT SETTING TOOLS, AND MOVING THE BRUSH BODIES IN SUCCESSION AND BY STEPS INTO OPERATIVE ALIGNMENT CONSECUTIVELY FIRST, WITH SAID FIRST DRILLING TOOLS, SECOND, WITH SAID SECOND DRILLING TOOLS, THIRD, WITH SAID FIRST TUFT SETTING TOOLS, AND FOURTH, WITH SAID SECOND TUFT SETTING TOOLS. 